Pending home sales fell a steep 2.2 percent in the month which points to unwelcome weakness for final sales of existing homes especially in January and also February. Final sales in December, reported last week, dropped a very sharp 6.4 percent to a 4.990 million annualized rate that was the lowest in more than three years. The pending sales index can be volatile but the direction of today's indication is unmistakable.

History

In December, existing home sales fell 6.4% to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.99 million in December. Economists expected a 1.3% decline.